Welcome to our studio blog! Lots of crafts, soap, crochet, studio happenings, and FREE CROCHET PATTERNS! I'm also a proud gimp - dealing with a weird and fairly unknown disorder that makes doing "normal" things kinda funny, and have WAY to much time to attempt crafting of all kinds. Come join my adventures in hooking, craft adventures, Pinterest FAILS, and cooking attempts!

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Awareness Ribbon CAL - Part 2

If you have questions about this CAL, the format, or what the heck a CAL is, please check out PART 1 for details.

When we left off, we had just completed the first portion of this cute little pattern from Little Orphan Skein.

Ch 31, and Row 1.

Onto Row 2:

1. The first part is "Row 2: ch 1. sc in first 12 st." So this means after completing Row 1, you chain (ch) 1, and turn your work. If you are unsure how to do this, here is a great video. ***Some patterns will tell you this at the end of a row, some at the beginning. It's the same technique either way.

After you chain (ch) 1 and turn, you are going to single crochet (sc) in the first 12 stitches (st).

Most patterns will tell you if the chain (ch) 1 counts as your first stitch, but this one doesn't specify. If it DID say that the chain (ch) 1 counts as first stitch (Often phrased, "beginning chain counts as first stitch, unless otherwise noted"), then you would SKIP the first stitch (st), and single crochet (sc) in the 2nd.

Since it doesn't say, and this is a pretty short/easy pattern, we will just go ahead and crochet into the 1st stitch (st). If you did it the other way, that is fine too. Some patterns it would matter, but it doesn't make a big difference in this case.

2. After you make 12 sc's, you will "For the next 12 st – Repeat: 2 sc in st, 1 sc in next st. 1 sc in each of remaining 12 st.."

Again, this looks different than most patterns. Most designers/pattern books will place ** around things that need repeated. So it would look like this:

Ch 1, sc in next 12, *2 sc, sc* in next 12 st, sc in remaining 12 st

This means in the next 12 stitches (st), you will do 2 single crochets (sc) in one stitch (st), then the next stitch (st) will only have one single crochet (sc).

You will repeat this for 12 stitches, meaning 6 will have TWO single crochet's (sc), and 6 will have ONE single crochet (sc), and you alternate in the pattern she uses:

2 sc, sc, 2 sc, sc, 2 sc, sc, 2 sc, sc, 2 sc, sc, 2 sc, sc

The holes beneath your 2 sc's will be bigger, since you have placed 2 single crochets into each space, so it becomes a bit easier to go back and count if you lose track.

Now- COUNT YOUR STITCHES. Many patterns will have stitch counts at the end of the row in parenthesis. At this point, you should have 30 stitches total. That's 12 from the first part, and 18 from the second. Again, if you goofed, no big deal - frog/rip it out and re-do.

This increase (as it's termed when you do multiple stitches in a single stitch), will cause your ribbon to turn over the top, and should look like this:

Then do your final 12 single crochet's (sc) to finish Row 2. One of the big issues many new crocheters have is finding that last stitch to make sure the ends/sides of your work are in a straight line. Here is a tutorial on how to do this and avoid wavy lines in your work.

3. Let's go ahead and finish this pattern!

"Row 3: ch 1. sc in first 12 st. For the next 18 st – Repeat: 2 sc in st,
1 sc in each next 2 st. 1 sc in each of remaining 12 st."

See if you can break this into sections, and apply what we learned about pattern reading and single crochet increases in Part 1 and above. You will do exactly what you did before.

-Ch 1, single crochet (sc) in the first 12 stitches (st).

-For the next 18 stitches, do 2 single crochet (sc), 1 single crochet (sc), and remember in most patterns this will look like this: *2 sc, sc* for the next 18 st.

-1 single crochet (sc) in the final 12 stitches.

THAT'S IT!

You then want to weave in your ends, and stitch the middle of the ribbon down so it lays flat.

***If you want to add a border, just hdc (half double crochet) around the ribbon before sewing the ribbon tails down, or you can even single crochet. I made mine into an ornament by joining the new yarn at the top, and after hdc around, I chained 10, then looped it back around and sewed it into a loop***